For

Against

Sapphire has waded in first with its take on AMD's latest HD 7000 series card, the Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OverClock edition.

Unlike the AMD Radeon HD 7970 there are unlikely to be very many strictly reference models of the Radeon HD 7950. Instead we're more likely to see card manufacturers taking the opportunity to put their own spin on the PCB, clocks and cooling.

The HD 7970 was a reference model all the way down the line, with overclocked versions only coming much further down the release schedule. The Radeon HD 7950 though is being freed by AMD to allow manufacturers to do whatever they like right from day one.

The SAPPHIRE HD 7950 OC Edition, which is factory overclocked to 900Mhz and features SAPPHIRE's new dual-extractor technology - Dual-X - a highly efficient multi-heatpipe cooler with dual fans providing quiet and very cool operation during normal operating conditions, and superb cooling performance even under extreme load. For enthusiasts wishing to maximise performance, a new version of the SAPPHIRE overclocking tool, TriXX supporting this latest generation of technology is available free to download from the SAPPHIRE website. TriXX allows tuning of GPU voltage as well as core and memory clocks, whilst continuously displaying temperature. Manual control of fan speed is supported, as well as user created fan profiles and the ability to save up to four different performance settings. Both of the SAPPHIRE HD 7950 models have a dual BIOS, allowing for further experimentation by the enthusiast. On the OC edition, the second BIOS is pre-programmed to allow a higher maximum overclock and more aggressive fan profile.